Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Chen Feng forbids the wolf yokai from capturing humans and leads them down from Howling Moon Cliff to beg food from passing motorists. The wolves discover that acting cute brings them custard pies and roast chicken, and accept Chen Feng as their new boss.
• Chen Feng learns the Old Wolf King is expected to return and decides to confront him at Black Fiend Cave. On the way, he encounters the king traveling with Tiger Lord’s party.
• When Chen Feng challenges the Old Wolf King for leadership, his first punch badly injures the king. The king reveals he knows a Wind Escape Art he had kept secret, but Chen Feng has learned an improved version. Chen Feng kills him with Wind Blades, gaining experience and improving his wind techniques.
• Tiger Lord’s daughter, Tiger Girl, then attacks—not to avenge the king, but to demand that Chen Feng marry her. Her overwhelming strength defeats him, and a headbutt knocks him unconscious.
• When Chen Feng wakes back at Howling Moon Cliff, he learns that Er Lang tried to protect him. Tiger Girl abandoned her interest in Chen Feng after spotting Er Lang, knocked him out, and took him away, announcing a wedding feast for the next day. Chen Feng rushes to rescue him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng becomes the wolves’ new leader through a mix of strength and practical generosity. He refuses to tolerate the Old Wolf King’s cannibalism and proves he can defeat him, but discovers that raw strength alone cannot overcome Tiger Girl.
• Er Lang shows fierce loyalty, risking himself to stop Tiger Girl from taking Chen Feng. His protectiveness earns him the unwanted attention of the tigress.
• The wolf yokai quickly shift their allegiance once Chen Feng feeds them, though they initially worry about the Old Wolf King’s retaliation. They ultimately do not dare challenge Tiger Girl.
• The Old Wolf King is revealed as ruthless and secretive: he has eaten humans and withheld a useful technique from his followers. His attempt to kill Chen Feng fails, and Chen Feng kills him.
• Tiger Girl is introduced as an immensely strong, blunt, and domineering figure. She treats marriage as something she can impose, but her attraction shifts from Chen Feng to Er Lang after she sees him.

Significant themes

• Power and leadership: The wolves follow Chen Feng because he is both stronger than their former leader and willing to provide for them.
• Loyalty and betrayal: Chen Feng topples the Old Wolf King, while Er Lang’s devotion leads him to sacrifice himself for his brother. The chapter’s comic framing contrasts this loyalty with the absurdity of being “sold out” to Tiger Girl.
• Humanity versus monstrous nature: Though inhabiting a wolf yokai’s body, Chen Feng retains human moral outrage at the king’s eating people.
• Strength and its limits: Chen Feng’s power lets him defeat the Old Wolf King, but Tiger Girl’s superior physical strength leaves him helpless and sets up the rescue mission.

Key plot points and events

• On the way to Black Fiend Cave, Chen Feng receives a gift of “immortal wine” from the Tiger Lord. His Check-in System identifies it as Worm Brew: insect eggs that boost lifespan and cultivation but may pose a hidden danger. Chen Feng keeps the gift without agreeing to the Tiger Lord’s plans and still intends to rescue Er Lang.
• The Check-in System finishes repairing itself, unlocking extra rewards. Chen Feng receives a Qi Refining Pill with a one-in-ten chance of advancing him to Qi Refining, and realizes his systems may have more hidden functions.
• An elderly wolf proposes poisoning a wedding feast with venom from the Millennium Snake King, killing the Leopard, Tiger, and Lion Kings. Chen Feng agrees to obtain the venom, though he also considers using his own abilities to defeat the Demon Kings.
• At Black Fiend Cave, Chen Feng finds a gathering of yokai and evidence of their cruelty: humans are held captive and prepared for a feast. Tiger Girl welcomes him as her “brother,” but Chen Feng knows she has eaten her previous husbands and fears for Er Lang.
• Chen Feng sneaks into the kitchen and adds poison to the food. He then sees the cook add poison too—and discovers that the Lion Chief also has a bottle of poison. He realizes the others are plotting against one another, making the banquet dangerously over-poisoned.
• Chen Feng searches Tiger Girl’s room for Er Lang but instead discovers a secret affair: the woman in the room is Madam Tiger, and her lover is the supposedly missing Leopard King. The Leopard King reveals that he poisoned the food as well, intending to eliminate the other yokai. The chapter ends with him asking Madam Tiger to share his bed.

Character developments

• Chen Feng remains suspicious and resourceful, using his system to detect the wine’s hidden contents and uncover the competing poison plots. His confidence in the system grows when it unlocks a powerful new reward.
• The elderly wolf yokai proves capable of strategic planning, though his proposal depends on trading the “immortal wine”—which Chen Feng recognizes as potentially dangerous.
• Tiger Girl presents herself as affectionate toward Er Lang, but Chen Feng’s knowledge of her past makes her reassurance ominous.
• The Leopard King is revealed as a concealed conspirator and Madam Tiger’s lover, with plans to kill the other rulers.
• The Lion Chief, Tiger cook, and Leopard King all turn out to be independently poisoning the same feast, exposing widespread treachery.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and distrust: Gifts, alliances, family language, and hospitality all conceal possible threats.
• Schemes backfiring: Chen Feng’s attempt to poison the feast mirrors the other rulers’ plans, creating a farcical chain of overlapping betrayals.
• Power and hidden systems: The repaired Check-in System reveals new capabilities and rewards, suggesting Chen Feng has only begun to understand his tools.
• Dark humor amid horror: The human feast, predatory yokai, and murderous plots are undercut by Chen Feng’s cynical inner commentary.

Character interactions

• Chen Feng rejects the idea that accepting the Tiger Lord’s wine means accepting an alliance, while privately assessing its danger.
• He and the elderly wolf discuss a plan to obtain venom and target the rival kings.
• Tiger Girl welcomes Chen Feng as family and promises to treat Er Lang well; Chen Feng doubts her sincerity.
• At the banquet, Chen Feng acts cautiously around the Tiger Lord and Lion King, then sneaks away to locate the kitchen and Er Lang.
• In Tiger Girl’s room, Chen Feng inadvertently witnesses the Leopard King and Madam Tiger’s affair—and learns that the Leopard King has poisoned the feast too.

Plot and events

• Chen Feng slips into a private room and catches Leopard King with Madam Tiger. He tries to escape using his Sandevistan and Windwalking, but Leopard King can move fast enough to fight him even while time is slowed. Chen Feng holds him off until the commotion draws attention.
• Meanwhile, Tiger Lord’s chef serves poisoned roast meat intended to kill the rival kings. Tiger Lord and Lion King both suspect the dish is dangerous, so neither will eat. A wolf’s shouted accusation of an affair gives Lion King an excuse to leave the table.
• Tiger Lord finds Leopard King fighting Chen Feng and Madam Tiger disheveled. Chen Feng and Madam Tiger blame Leopard King for attempting to assault her. Leopard King flees, but the Cave Abode is sealed. Tiger Lord kills him easily, revealing the vast gap between their strength.
• Lion King realizes Tiger Lord intends to eliminate the other kings and attacks him with a devastating roar. The two fight, leaving both badly hurt, though Tiger Lord survives.
• Chen Feng finds Er Lang, who has been too frightened of Tiger Girl to escape. Tiger Girl stops the brothers and threatens to eat Er Lang. Chen Feng distracts her by proposing a meal before their fight, then serves her poisoned food. She collapses, and Chen Feng receives a reward for killing a tiger demon.
• Tiger Lord plans to kill the remaining rivals and rule the carnivore zone with his daughter. Chen Feng and Er Lang appear afterward; when Tiger Lord asks about Tiger Girl, Chen Feng says she has gone ahead to “enjoy Paradise.”

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng is repeatedly outmatched: Leopard King counters his time-slowing ability, and Tiger Girl’s defenses shrug off his Wind Blades. He adapts by using deception and the chef’s poison rather than brute force.
• Leopard King is exposed as Madam Tiger’s lover and tries to escape after Chen Feng turns the accusation against him. His speed cannot save him from Tiger Lord’s superior strength.
• Tiger Lord proves ruthless and overwhelmingly powerful, killing Leopard King and defeating Lion King. His plan to monopolize the territory is threatened by the deaths of his allies and daughter.
• Lion King recognizes the danger of Tiger Lord’s scheme and fights back, but is ultimately defeated.
• Tiger Girl shifts from possessive flirtation with Er Lang to openly threatening to eat him. Her confidence in her near-indestructible body makes her vulnerable to Chen Feng’s poisoned-meal trick.
• Er Lang remains terrified of Tiger Girl but stands by Chen Feng. Their comic exchange highlights their brotherly bond.

Significant themes

• Cunning over strength: Chen Feng survives stronger opponents through improvisation, misdirection, and poison.
• Power and betrayal: Tiger Lord’s ambition drives a deadly scheme against rival kings, while Leopard King’s affair triggers his downfall.
• The limits of special abilities: Chen Feng’s usual advantages fail against stronger or faster enemies, forcing him to adapt.
• Dark comedy: The chapter mixes lethal violence and political treachery with jokes about romance, food, and Er Lang’s fear.

Key plot points and events

• Tiger King has trapped everyone in the cave with a barrier. Lion King proposes teaming up with Chen Feng to defeat him, but Chen Feng refuses—not out of fear, but because he wants the experience for himself.
• Before fighting, Chen Feng asks whether Tiger King has any other escape or survival techniques and whether his Indestructible Vajra defense is truly invincible. Tiger King boasts that it makes him ten times tougher, but confirms he has no other lifesaving abilities.
• Tiger King charges. Chen Feng activates his speed and One-Hit Kill cheats, then kills him with a single punch. His experience multiplier turns the kill into more than 1.2 million proficiency points.
• Chen Feng turns to the badly injured Lion King. Lion King offers to become his subordinate, then tries to bargain with a family martial-arts manual. Chen Feng refuses because Lion King eats humans and kills him anyway, gaining another 865,000 proficiency points.
• The combined experience is enough to max out Chen Feng’s skills, bringing him closer to unlocking Threefold Divine Wind.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng is confident, calculating, and ruthlessly focused on gaining experience. He tests Tiger King’s defenses before attacking, rejects Lion King’s moral argument, and kills him despite his offer of service and the manual.
• Tiger King begins as a boastful, dominant threat, but his faith in his supposedly invincible defense proves misplaced. He is killed before he can respond.
• Lion King shifts from proposing an alliance to pleading for his life and offering a reward. His attempt to justify eating humans by pointing to human hunting fails to sway Chen Feng.
• Er Lang remains devoted to Chen Feng, celebrating his victory and even offering to kill Lion King. Chen Feng stops him to prevent him from taking the experience.

Significant themes

• Power and invulnerability: Tiger King’s defense seems absolute, but Chen Feng’s One-Hit Kill ability exposes the limits of brute resilience.
• Self-interest and moral inconsistency: Chen Feng condemns Lion King for eating humans while openly admitting that his own standards are hypocritical.
• Strength as spectacle and resource: Battles are framed not only as tests of power but as opportunities to gain experience and advance.
• Loyalty and hierarchy: Er Lang’s uncomplicated admiration contrasts with Chen Feng’s transactional view of allies and enemies.

Key plot points and events

• After defeating the Lion King, Chen Feng finds an ancient manual. The system interprets it as a new technique for his modified Wind-Riding Art: Ghost Wail and God Howl, a devastating roar-based attack.
• He discovers the Tiger King’s cave is sealed by a golden barrier. Unable to break through the stone doors or escape overhead, Chen Feng and Er Lang are trapped.
• A mysterious dwarf appears and identifies the barrier as the work of Cihang Bodhisattva. He pulls Madam Tiger from the inner courtyard, reveals she has been corrupted, and destroys her body—though it reforms into a Flesh Monster.
• Chen Feng’s Wind Blade can tear the monster apart, but it keeps regenerating. The dwarf burns it to ash, breaking the barrier.
• The stranger warns Chen Feng not to share his real name in Cihang City and introduces himself as Great Yokai—the final boss of the Crazy Zoo.
• Great Yokai explains that he investigated the deaths of the Old Wolf King and Tiger King and suspects Chen Feng is not really Da Lang. Chen Feng attacks with his speed and instant-kill abilities, but the system reports that Great Yokai is 999 times stronger, so the instant kill fails.
• Impressed by Chen Feng’s attack, Great Yokai says he wants to uncover his secret himself. He summons a huge, soul-filled banner from the darkened sky: the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

Character developments

• Chen Feng gains a new roar technique and shows growing confidence, but his encounter with Great Yokai reveals the immense limits of his power against a true top-tier enemy. He is also increasingly anxious about the consequences of the killings he has caused.
• Great Yokai is introduced as powerful, perceptive, and curious rather than immediately vengeful. He is willing to test Chen Feng and investigate him instead of demanding an explanation.
• Er Lang remains wary and perceptive, sensing danger from the dwarf before Chen Feng understands who he is.
• Madam Tiger is exposed as corrupted and disloyal to Great Yokai, and is killed—though her remains become the supernatural Flesh Monster.

Significant themes

• Power and its limits: Chen Feng’s cheats and lethal techniques are formidable, but Great Yokai’s overwhelming strength makes clear that they are not unbeatable.
• Inheritance and decline: The dwarf contrasts Chen Feng’s revived Wind Manipulation with the weakening skill of successive generations, suggesting ancient techniques have lost much of their original power.
• Hidden identities and danger: Great Yokai deduces Chen Feng’s disguise, while the warning about names in Cihang City suggests identity itself can be dangerous.
• Corruption and betrayal: Madam Tiger’s transformation links spiritual corruption to betrayal of one’s own kind.

Character interactions

• The dwarf helps Chen Feng escape the barrier, explains the Flesh Monster’s weakness, and offers advice about concealing his name.
• Chen Feng and Er Lang react cautiously to the dwarf, with Er Lang warning that he smells dangerous.
• Great Yokai confronts Chen Feng with his suspicions, then deliberately lets Chen Feng strike him to test his ability. Their encounter ends with Great Yokai escalating the challenge by summoning the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

• The Great Yokai traps Chen Feng: The Great Yokai attacks with the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, which absorbs the souls of dead yokai. Chen Feng realizes it has already revealed his presence: the banner contains Da Lang’s soul, meaning the Great Yokai detected him when he took over Da Lang’s account. If captured, Chen fears the Great Yokai will uncover his transmigration and system secrets.
• Chen’s escape attempts fail: He first tries to log out, but the banner’s hold on his soul prevents it. He then blows up his body, hoping death will trigger a reload. The Great Yokai simply resurrects him, explaining that Chen cannot escape the banner—and cannot die while the Great Yokai keeps restoring his body.
• Cihang intervenes: Strange flesh spreads over the banner and slows its power. It forms the face of Cihang Bodhisattva, who recognizes Chen as a visitor from another world and gives him a cryptic message: “Time. Snake Spirit. Ruined temple.” The Great Yokai infers that she wants Chen to find her in another timeline, after he is reborn.
• Chen finds a way to die: Realizing that his problem is being revived, Chen activates his Death Drop-Prevention and Time-Stop cheats. Time freezes. The banner still prevents him from logging out, but the Great Yokai can no longer restore his body before Chen’s consciousness fades. Chen’s final words promise revenge: “Just you wait. I’ll remember this.”
  Character developments and interactions: Chen shifts from panic to quick problem-solving, using humor and his cheats to resist the Great Yokai. The Great Yokai reveals himself as a powerful, calculating enemy who can control the banner and resurrect Chen, while also deducing Chen’s ability to be reborn. Cihang acts as an unexpected ally, though her guidance is deliberately obscure. Chen and the Great Yokai trade taunts, while Cihang’s intervention briefly disrupts their confrontation.
  Themes: The chapter emphasizes survival through ingenuity, the danger of revealing hidden identities, and the possibility of using death and time as tools. Its playful references and jokes contrast with the threat of permanent capture, while Cihang’s message introduces a mystery tied to timelines, the Snake Spirit, and a ruined temple.

Plot points

• After being killed by the Great Yokai’s Ten Thousand Souls Banner, Chen Feng is reborn, retaining the memory of the attack. He regards the Great Yokai as a worthy rival and reviews what he learned from the failed run.
• His training plan failed, costing two million experience points, and he cannot safely use an Incarnation because a dead yokai’s soul could alert the Great Yokai. He considers Erha as a possible candidate instead. Da Lang is still alive, so the system refunds the Point spent on his Incarnation.
• Chen chooses the Equipment Enhancement System, which can improve gear using Enhancement Stones but may destroy equipment on a failed attempt—and does not reveal its success rate. He decides to avoid using it unless necessary.
• A rare prismatic Hextech selection offers three options: an airdrop that completes a divine-artifact set, a contract that instantly completes a training plan at the cost of lifespan, or a permanent bonus to Temporary Points. Chen rejects the airdrop and postpones choosing between the other two.
• Remembering Cihang Bodhisattva’s clue about a Snake Spirit at a ruined temple, Chen connects it to She Qingqing’s abandoned temple in the mountains. He changes his mind and asks to go with her, hoping to evade the dangers in the city.
• Before leaving, he tells Li Guolong and the other two men to stay at the internet café until he returns in a month, after he has attacked the Mental Hospital. He changes out of his hospital gown and heads for the mountains with She Qingqing.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng remains bold and opportunistic, but his near-death experience makes him more cautious about risky systems and about exposing his allies. He also plans to rebuild his strength through a new training candidate rather than another Incarnation.
• She Qingqing agrees to take Chen to the mountains and mentions that a fox yokai once lived at the temple but has since left.
• Chen and the Trio part on Chen’s instructions: he keeps them out of danger while setting a future goal to attack the Mental Hospital.
• Chen’s final quip—that the departed fox “became someone’s mistress”—adds a comic note and hints at an unseen character’s story.

Significant themes

• Survival through adaptation: Chen turns the information and losses from his previous life into plans for the next.
• Risk versus reward: The enhancement system and Hextech choices offer power but demand caution, sacrifice, or investment.
• Trust and protection: Chen tries to shield the Trio while seeking an ally in She Qingqing.
• Humor amid danger: Gaming references and irreverent jokes temper the chapter’s tense stakes.

Plot points and events

• Chen Feng and She Qingqing travel from Cihang City to a remote settlement in Five Desires County, arriving at dusk in a village called Lewd Village.
• The unusually young village chief welcomes them, offers lodging and a meal, and claims to have forty years’ experience despite looking about twenty.
• Chen Feng hears whipping and discovers young men beating middle-aged men. When the young men leer at She Qingqing, the chief angrily drives them away and apologizes, calling them “old lechers.”
• The chief provides private rooms and a wild-rabbit dinner. Suspicious of being poisoned, Chen Feng insists the chief eat with them and watches him closely; the chief and She Qingqing finish nearly all the food before Chen Feng can relax.
• Short on money, Chen Feng considers how to earn more and becomes increasingly wary of the chief’s generosity. He explores the village and notices its many residents are young, its oldest men are made to sleep in cowsheds, and it has an unusually large number of beautiful women—yet they appear free and content.
• The chief puts Chen Feng and She Qingqing in separate rooms. Chen Feng remains on guard through the night. Just as he begins to wonder whether he misjudged the village, someone knocks at his door.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng is alert and distrustful, interpreting the village’s hospitality as potentially dangerous. His suspicions lead him to test the food, investigate the village, and stay vigilant at night. His concern for She Qingqing also prompts him to step forward when the young men leer at her.
• She Qingqing is targeted by the villagers’ leering but remains composed; Chen Feng notes that she is powerful enough to defend herself.
• The village chief presents himself as hospitable and responsible, punishing the men who harass She Qingqing and apologizing sincerely—or convincingly—to the visitors. His unusual age and generosity leave Chen Feng unsure what to make of him.
• The chapter contrasts the chief and younger men’s authority over the middle-aged villagers with the men’s apparent harassment of women, creating a deliberately strange social order.

Significant themes

• Hospitality versus suspicion: Generous treatment may be genuine, but Chen Feng’s experiences make him expect a hidden catch.
• Appearances and uncertainty: The village seems bizarre and potentially sinister, yet its women show no obvious signs of captivity, and no clear wrongdoing is revealed.
• Reversed social hierarchy: Young men punish and dominate older men, while the village’s oldest residents are marginalized.
• Comedic paranoia: Chen Feng’s references to poison, television crime dramas, and lottery schemes turn his caution into humor while keeping the village mysterious.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Feng follows a young villager who knocked on his door and discovers the man was acting on orders from the village chief.
• The young man leads him to a stone tablet at the village entrance. Beneath a metal covering, Chen Feng finds five rules for Lewd Village: don’t accept food from strangers, separate from your companion, stay in a stranger’s home, speak to strangers, or open the door to strangers.
• Chen Feng realizes the villagers deliberately hid the rules so he and She Qingqing would violate them, triggering the village’s supernatural effects.
• The young man explains that women who break the rules lose their memories and identities, while men are regressed to infancy. The villagers exploit these effects to enslave men and claim women as wives.
• As Chen Feng begins to grow younger, the young man boasts that he will soon be able to overpower him. Chen Feng kills him with a single blow, despite his own regression.

Character developments

• Chen Feng shifts from suspicion to certainty about the village chief’s corruption. He pieces together the village’s long-running scheme and becomes increasingly furious, but remains powerful and composed even as he regresses.
• The young villager reveals himself as a willing participant in the villagers’ exploitation. His confidence returns when Chen Feng starts growing younger, but his cruelty and arrogance lead to his death.
• The village chief, though absent from the confrontation, is exposed as the organizer of the scheme, having reluctantly allowed the young men to target Chen Feng and She Qingqing.

Significant themes

• People can be more frightening than monsters: the villagers turn a supernatural “rules” system into a tool for exploitation.
• Hidden rules and manipulated vulnerability: the victims are set up to fail because the rules are concealed from them.
• Power and dehumanization: memory loss and age regression strip victims of identity and autonomy, enabling slavery and abuse.

Character interactions

• Chen Feng interrogates the young villager, using force to make him confess.
• The young man reveals the village chief’s role and explains the consequences of breaking the rules.
• Their confrontation turns from intimidation to open menace: the young man threatens Chen Feng and She Qingqing, but Chen Feng kills him before he can act.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Feng confronts Lewd Village’s villagers after defeating a young man. They call for Granny, a monster whose rattle drum weakens and ages anyone who hears it.
• Chen Feng uses his Sandevistan to strike Granny before she can attack, but she survives and disappears into the crowd while continuing to drum.
• Suspecting she is disguised among the villagers, Chen Feng threatens them for information. The villagers refuse to help, believing Granny’s return is preferable to their former lives, and attack him in a mob.
• As Granny’s power rapidly ages and weakens him, Chen Feng is pinned down in the body of a small child. He realizes that, if killed, he might be reborn without his memories and raised by his enemies.
• Chen Feng activates the newly available Hextech—Demon Contract, spending lifespan to complete a training plan instantly. He ages himself back to adulthood and gains a Building-Bursting-Level body.

Character developments

• Chen Feng shifts from confidence to desperation as Granny’s ability undermines his physical strength and judgment. He recognizes that de-aging is dangerous not only because it weakens the body, but because it threatens his identity and memories. He ultimately adapts by using the Demon Contract to counter her power.
• Granny is revealed as a formidable, elusive enemy: her drum drains lifespan, and her true danger lies in making victims too young to think clearly.
• The villagers are shown to be fanatically loyal to Granny, willing to die for her and to protect her from Chen Feng.

Significant themes

• Adaptation under pressure: Chen Feng survives by finding a new use for his system rather than relying on strength alone.
• The danger of losing identity: Forced youth threatens memory, judgment, and the ability to resist manipulation.
• Collective cruelty and complicity: The villagers’ devotion turns them into a lethal mob.
• Power’s cost: Chen Feng can exchange lifespan for training, making survival possible at a personal price.

Character interactions

• Chen Feng attacks Granny, but she escapes and hides among the villagers.
• He interrogates and injures a villager, then threatens the crowd; the village chief openly rallies them against him.
• The villagers overwhelm the shrinking Chen Feng, and the chief’s son threatens to keep him alive for revenge.
• Chen Feng turns the tables by spending lifespan to restore his age and power.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Feng gains the divine ability Wind Roar, which lets him unleash a powerful, wide-reaching sound wave.
• Unable to locate the disguised Granny among the villagers, he decides to attack everyone at once. His roar kills nearly the entire village, leaving the Granny exposed.
• The Granny begs for her life and offers women from the village, then offers to erase She Qingqing’s memories and make her obedient. Chen Feng learns that the memory damage is permanent and kills her with a punch.
• The Granny’s death drops three enhancement stones: one that de-ages targets, one that erases memories, and one that increases hypnosis. Chen Feng takes them but postpones choosing one, since he has no weapon to enhance.
• Chen Feng checks on She Qingqing and discovers the Granny had lured her toward danger with candy. She Qingqing slept through the attack and remembers little of it.
• The next morning, the pair leave the village and reach their destination: a ruined temple containing a statue of Cihang Bodhisattva. Its contradictory hand gestures—one beckoning people closer and the other warning them away—leave Chen Feng uncertain what it signifies.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng demonstrates growing confidence in his strength, but also caution: he recognizes the threat posed by the Granny’s powers and avoids choosing an enhancement stone prematurely. His blunt, ruthless approach to danger is reinforced.
• The Granny is revealed as a manipulative supernatural threat who uses memory alteration and hypnosis, but she cannot bargain her way out once Chen Feng judges her useless.
• She Qingqing remains trusting and easily distracted; the Granny nearly lured her in with candy, while Chen Feng wakes and interrogates her afterward.
• Chen Feng’s exchanges with the village chief’s son and the Granny highlight his sardonic humor and the sharp contrast between his jokes and his lethal actions.

Significant themes

• Caution versus overwhelming force: Chen Feng survives by recognizing danger early and striking decisively.
• The horror of lost identity: The memory-altering stone and Granny’s offer underline the lasting harm of having one’s memories erased.
• Uncertainty and contradiction: The temple’s ambiguous statue gestures introduce a new mystery as the story shifts toward the next threat.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Feng visits Cihang Bodhisattva to learn why Cihang City has traps aimed at transmigrators. Her statue comes alive and immobilizes She Qingqing.
• The Daily Intelligence System temporarily activates and reveals several threats: Bull Face has rigged lottery shops to curse winners; the Demon Lord’s Hyperspace Hound can hunt transmigrators; and the Demon Lord’s alternate account belongs to someone else. Chen Feng also learns India is not the Demon Lord’s alias and could help him find Bull Face.
• Cihang Bodhisattva sends a flood of truthful information through the system, exposing the conspiracy behind the city. Five monsters—Bull Face, the Great Yokai, the Queen Mother, the Ghost King, and the Lord—have sealed the sleeping goddess and taken control of Cihang City. Together they manipulate faith, harvest humans, manufacture new bodies, recycle souls, and eliminate anyone who might resist.
• Chen Feng discovers that transmigrators arrive one at a time as part of a failed plan by the now-dead God of Machines and God of Space to save a world already destroyed by an apocalypse. He declines to learn more when warned that the truth itself is corrupting.
• The Intelligence System confirms that Cihang Bodhisattva is a good god, then ends Chen Feng’s trial. Chen Feng pleads for its return, and she offers him a quest: each target he kills will repair one system.
• Accepting that the monsters will target him regardless, Chen Feng resolves to strike first. The first repair restores the Hextech System, unlocking a Golden Hextech choice and several combat upgrades.

Character developments

• Chen Feng moves from cautious suspicion to understanding the scale of the conspiracy. Though shaken by the revelations, he chooses to fight rather than wait to be hunted.
• Cihang Bodhisattva emerges as a genuine ally—albeit one who tests Chen Feng, controls access to the system, and expects him to act against her enemies.
• She Qingqing is briefly frightened by the living statue and then immobilized, leaving Chen Feng to face the revelations alone.
• India is established as someone Chen Feng can trust, with prophetic abilities that may help locate Bull Face.

Significant themes

• Information as power: The Intelligence System’s accurate warnings give Chen Feng a crucial edge against carefully designed traps.
• Systemic horror and exploitation: The monsters treat the city’s inhabitants as a managed resource, controlling their births, deaths, and reincarnation.
• Entrapment and hopelessness: Even death offers no escape from Cihang City, while the monsters suppress potential resistance before it can grow.
• Trust, doubt, and transactional cooperation: Chen Feng must decide whom to trust, while Cihang Bodhisattva secures his help through a quest and tangible rewards.

Character interactions

• Chen Feng dismisses She Qingqing’s panic, then realizes she has been frozen by the statue.
• Cihang Bodhisattva communicates through the Intelligence System, answering Chen Feng’s questions and exposing the city’s history.
• Chen Feng bargains with the silent goddess for the system’s return; she responds with a kill quest and, after he accepts, restores the Hextech System as advance payment.

Key plot points

• At Cihang Bodhisattva’s temple, Chen Feng spots three Hextech devices and gets an idea. When She Qingqing recovers from her paralysis and notices the blood, he uses the confusion to leave.
• In Crazy Zoo, Er Lang mourns his brother Da Lang, who died after being attacked by Wolf Vanguard. Hungry and grieving, Er Lang refuses Vanguard’s order to patrol the mountain.
• Vanguard threatens to kill Er Lang, but Chen Feng intervenes, effortlessly restrains him, and breaks all four of his limbs. Chen Feng recruits Er Lang with food and protection.
• Chen Feng questions the elderly Wolf Yokai, whom he names Old Wolf, and learns that a wedding is being held that night for the Millennium Tiger King’s daughter. Chen Feng promises Old Wolf the pack’s leadership if he helps.
• Disguised in a sack, Chen Feng is smuggled with Old Wolf and Er Lang into Black Fiend Cave, where the wedding guests gather. He slips away into Madam Tiger’s chamber.
• Madam Tiger initially welcomes Chen Feng when he says Cihang Bodhisattva sent him to help. Before he can explain, Leopard King arrives in a gust of black wind and discovers the unexpected visitor.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng shifts from escaping the temple to taking charge of the wolf pack’s crisis. He uses overwhelming strength, calculated threats, and food to secure allies, while pursuing the wedding for an unstated purpose.
• Er Lang moves from grief, hunger, and defiance to accepting Chen Feng’s offer and becoming his ally.
• Old Wolf proves candid and cooperative, giving Chen Feng useful information and agreeing to help him infiltrate the gathering.
• Wolf Vanguard is exposed as a bully who killed Da Lang and now terrorizes Er Lang; Chen Feng swiftly incapacitates him.
• Madam Tiger appears to recognize Chen Feng’s claim of being sent by Cihang Bodhisattva, but Leopard King’s arrival interrupts their conversation.

Significant themes

• Power and protection: Chen Feng’s strength lets him stop abuse and offer Er Lang security.
• Loyalty and trust: Er Lang’s grief for his brother and Old Wolf’s honesty shape Chen Feng’s new alliances.
• Survival and leverage: Food becomes a means of recruitment, while Chen Feng uses promises and disguises to enter a dangerous gathering.
• Comic contrast: Chen Feng’s casual, practical behavior contrasts with the yokai’s threats and the increasingly absurd situation.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Feng confronts the Leopard King in Madam Tiger’s room. Now strong and fast enough to match him, Chen Feng repeatedly outmaneuvers and humiliates him, then knocks him down with the Wind Roar Art.
• Madam Tiger explains that Cihang Bodhisattva recruited her to spark conflict among the Demon Kings. The demons’ deaths would feed her cultivation while a barrier kept their souls from reaching the Great Yokai’s Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
• Chen Feng realizes her plan would have worked if the Great Yokai had not secretly entered the banquet in his previous life. Madam Tiger intends to escape once the barrier ends.
• The Leopard King wakes, vanishes with a concealment technique, and accuses Chen Feng of trying to seduce Madam Tiger. The Wolf King, Tiger Lord, and Lion King arrive, and the ensuing fight shakes the compound.
• After the battle, Chen Feng emerges battered but victorious, dragging the nearly dead Tiger Lord and Lion King. He gives the kills to Erha.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng’s increased strength lets him reverse the power dynamic with the Leopard King. His old fear of being hunted by him gives way to confidence, though he remains focused on the larger scheme.
• Madam Tiger reveals her ambition and willingness to manipulate the Demon Kings for power. She dismisses the Leopard King as a lover, saying she dislikes how “quick” he is.
• The Leopard King shifts from defeated opponent to spiteful accuser, using Chen Feng’s own familiar “caught in the act” tactic against him.
• Erha and Old Wolf hear the commotion and sensibly stay out of danger. Old Wolf assumes Chen Feng has lost, making Chen’s return—and his gift of the Demon Kings’ kills—especially striking.

Significant themes

• Power and reversal: Chen Feng’s new abilities overturn earlier vulnerabilities and allow him to dominate a former threat.
• Deception and schemes: Madam Tiger’s plot, the Great Yokai’s hidden presence, and the Leopard King’s false accusation all turn on concealed intentions.
• Dark comedy and role reversal: The Leopard King steals Chen Feng’s signature accusation, leaving Chen in the position of the supposed seducer.
• Loyalty and survival: Erha and Old Wolf debate whether to intervene, ultimately choosing caution over reckless heroism.

Plot points and events

• After the battle, Chen Feng checks the loot: several hundred common enhancement stones, four elite stones, and special stones from Leopard King and Wolf King. He had deliberately left Tiger Lord and Lion King alive so someone else could deliver the finishing blows.
• Erha is too frightened to kill the wounded Demon Kings, so Chen Feng assigns the task to Old Wolf. Using the Proficiency System, he gives Old Wolf a Wind-Riding training plan. Old Wolf kills the two kings with Wind Blade and immediately gains new wind techniques and a boost in cultivation.
• Chen Feng, Erha, and Old Wolf watch Madam Tiger perform a ritual. Blood from the dead yokai gathers into a pool, where four lotuses grow and absorb the corpses. Madam Tiger enters a lotus; an hour later, four transformed yokai emerge: Madam Tiger as Red Fox Madam, Tiger Lord as White-Foreheaded Great Sage, Lion King as Suanni Great Sage, and Tiger Girl as Lady Mountain Lord. All have become far stronger.
• Red Fox Madam opens a passage through the barrier and warns that the Great Yokai may soon discover what happened. Chen Feng declines her offer to travel with them, since he still has Check-in System targets to pursue: Eagle King, Elephant King, Mantis God, and Shark King.
• As Chen Feng’s group leaves, the Great Yokai arrives and kills the newly revived White-Foreheaded Great Sage by hurling his head like a projectile. His aura knocks Old Wolf and Erha unconscious, but Chen Feng stays composed and openly challenges him.
• The Great Yokai reveals that the deaths of yokai in the park alert him through the souls drawn into his Human Emperor Banner. Chen Feng suspects a second tracking method and deduces that the Wine Worms in the Demon Kings’ immortal wine let the Great Yokai monitor them. The insects’ survival through Lion King’s shock waves helped him identify them.
• The Great Yokai summons the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and calls for allies. Chen Feng, however, had prepared a gamble: he uses a common enhancement stone on the banner, relying on his bad luck to make the enhancement fail. It does—and the banner shatters. The Salvage Bin converts it into valuable materials: Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Yin Wood, Taiyin Moonlight Silk, and Human Emperor Hide.
• With his life-bound treasure destroyed, the Great Yokai is badly shaken and spits blood. Chen Feng immediately activates a “No Item Drop on Death” cheat and restarts, unwilling to risk whatever the Great Yokai might do next.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Feng remains calculating and irreverent. He uses systems strategically, sees through the Great Yokai’s tracking scheme, and deliberately exploits his poor luck to destroy a powerful artifact. He also shows caution by restarting rather than pushing his advantage.
• Old Wolf moves from a cautious, injured follower to an eager trainee. The system rapidly improves his long-stagnant cultivation, making him hungry for further progress and more willing to fight.
• Erha remains comic and cowardly: he panics at Tiger Lord’s roar, refuses to finish him, and misunderstands Chen Feng’s lecture about needing to improve.
• Red Fox Madam and the transformed yokai show gratitude toward Chen Feng, but choose their own path and warn him of the Great Yokai’s imminent arrival.
• The Great Yokai is revealed as both dangerous and methodical: he uses multiple safeguards to monitor threats, yet Chen Feng’s deduction and gambit destroy his most important weapon.

Significant themes

• Power and self-improvement: Old Wolf’s sudden advancement illustrates how opportunity and training can break through long-term stagnation.
• Transformation and moral ambiguity: The lotus ritual grants immense strength, but its grotesque use of blood, corpses, and living bodies makes its supposedly sacred source unsettling.
• Strategy over brute force: Chen Feng survives through observation, deception, system knowledge, and calculated risk rather than direct combat.
• Fate, luck, and exploitation: Chen Feng turns his notoriously poor enhancement luck into an advantage, deliberately using failure to dismantle the Great Yokai’s banner.
• Trust and hidden control: The Wine Worms reveal that the Great Yokai’s apparent generosity toward the Demon Kings concealed a means of surveillance.

• Chen Feng assesses his progress and his new loot. Back at the internet café, he reviews his rapidly expanding system abilities and concludes that surviving long enough will make him increasingly powerful. He examines three rare treasures he recovered—Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Yin Wood, Taiyin Moonlight Silk, and Human Emperor Hide—and is unsettled by the implications of making an artifact from a human ruler’s remains. His immediate goal is to refine a Ten Thousand Souls Banner, but he has no idea how to make one.
• Chen Feng activates the Chat Group System. Hoping to find an expert, he opens a chat group whose red-packet and world-travel functions are already disabled; only group documents work. He invites two powerful figures: the First Saint Demon Venerable from an Immortal World and the Unlucky Corpse Emperor from a Xuanhuan world. Their introductions establish that both are Earth-transmigrators, though each arrived already powerful.
• The group compares worlds and strength. The Demon Venerable describes a brutally treacherous cultivation world where even low-level cultivators are extraordinarily strong, and where traps and fake opportunities are commonplace. The Corpse Emperor’s world lacks immortality, but its Great Emperors can destroy galaxies. As powerful beings approach death, they undergo a monstrous transformation involving green fur and attacks on others’ life force; the Corpse Emperor reveals that he is the source of this phenomenon. Chen Feng recognizes similarities to Shrouding the Heavens and treats him with newfound awe.
• Chen Feng explains his own predicament. He tells the others that he arrived as an ordinary internet-café clerk in a horror-filled world, surrounded by deadly monsters and trapped in a recurring dream that has killed many other Earthlings. The Demon Venerable and Corpse Emperor sympathize, while Chen Feng’s account underscores how precarious his situation remains despite his growing system powers.
• The promised help proves frustratingly out of reach. The Demon Venerable recognizes Chen Feng’s materials as extraordinarily valuable: the wood is effectively ten million years old, and the Human Emperor’s hide comes from the leader of the righteous path. He offers to make a banner over forty-nine years and even lend Chen Feng a powerful one—but the group’s red-packet and meeting functions are unavailable, so neither transfer nor travel is possible.
• Character interactions and humor reveal the group’s dynamic. Chen Feng is pragmatic and eager to flatter powerful allies, while the Demon Venerable alternates between friendly generosity and casual superiority. The Corpse Emperor is initially terse, then impresses the others with his cosmic power and startling confession. Chen Feng’s awe and frustration repeatedly puncture the group’s grand claims with comic reactions.
• The chapter ends on a new possibility—and another warning. The Demon Venerable struggles to find a safe beginner cultivation manual: one changes the practitioner’s sex, another turns them into an artifact, and a third lets someone steal their body and cultivation—which he admits he created. Chen Feng calls the group a menace. The Corpse Emperor then offers him a Great Achievement Sacred Body cultivation art, leaving its safety and usefulness unresolved.
  Themes: Power and survival are framed as an escalating progression, but strength does not guarantee safety or reliable help. The chapter also plays with the gap between world-shaking fantasy power and Chen Feng’s everyday, anxious pragmatism, while using the broken chat-group features and dangerous “help” to satirize overpowered allies and cultivation techniques.

Key plot points and events

• The First Saint Demon Venerable, secretly the Sword Immortal Venerable, has spent generations manipulating the Sword Sect’s Swordheart Dao Art. Its leaders—including the current master—were transformed into sword spirits, allowing him to collect three of the four swords needed for the Four Swords Immortal-Slaying Formation.
• The Demon Venerable’s aide, Elder Xuanming, reports that other elders may be plotting. The Demon Venerable orders him to infiltrate them by claiming the sect master is gravely ill, while privately suspecting Xuanming may be using the situation to eliminate rivals.
• In another world, the Unlucky Corpse Emperor awakens, making the universe fear an imminent Dark Turmoil. But he has awakened only to ask his ancient monster followers for a cultivation art for Chen Feng’s dog, Erha. After receiving one, he sends them back to sleep; the turmoil is still three thousand years away.
• Chen Feng uses the Chat Group’s uploaded documents with his Proficiency System. He cannot use the Great Accomplishment Sacred Body method, but obtains the opening stages of the Mysterious Tortoise Longevity Art. It cultivates slowly but extends lifespan and grants defensive, concealment, and recovery abilities.
• Chen Feng eagerly anticipates beginning cultivation and restoring the Chat Group’s red-packet feature. Meanwhile, at Crazy Zoo, the Great Yokai discovers that his Ten Thousand Souls Banner has vanished—apparently lost when Chen Feng was reborn.

Character developments and interactions

• The Demon Venerable is revealed as a patient, calculating schemer: he has deceived the Sword Sect for generations and treats potential conspirators as useful resources. His exchanges with the Sword Sect master mix cruelty with dry humor.
• Elder Xuanming presents himself as utterly loyal, even accepting his father’s death as the price of serving the sect master. The Demon Venerable nevertheless suspects he is concealing his own agenda.
• The Unlucky Corpse Emperor is terrifying in reputation but unexpectedly considerate toward Chen Feng, interrupting a world-threatening awakening to find a suitable art for Erha. His followers obey him, though they are bewildered by his request.
• Chen Feng remains cheerful and opportunistic, valuing survival above rapid advancement. He is impressed by the art’s practical protections and increasingly convinced the Chat Group is his best system. She Qingqing notices his sudden good mood and questions him.
• The cultivators preparing to fight the Corpse Emperor’s forces are left confused when the ancient monsters simply announce they are “off the clock” and depart.

Significant themes

• Comic contrast between reputation and reality: world-ending figures focus on mundane favors, while Chen Feng celebrates technical manuals he barely understands.
• Survival and patience: the Mysterious Tortoise art prizes longevity, caution, and concealment over speed or glory.
• Deception and mistrust: the Demon Venerable’s long con and his suspicion of Xuanming show that apparent loyalty and reported threats may both be strategic.
• Power and perspective: the universe fears catastrophe, but from the Corpse Emperor’s perspective, the crisis is simply not scheduled yet.

Plot points and events

• Broke after restarting, Chen Feng had only three Temporary Points. He returned to Crazy Zoo to complete his Daily Check-in, this time repeating his usual blood-soaked routine with Old Wolf and Tiger Girl.
• Repeat kills gave no Enhancement Stones, but killing the Tiger King produced a Tiger Stone and an Elite Enhancement Stone. Chen Feng also had Old Wolf kill the Leopard King and used wind to keep the Wine Worms inside the barrier, hoping to conceal the blood sacrifice.
• After racing through all four zones, Chen Feng completed the Check-in and earned five System Points and a Qi Refining Pill, bringing him to eight points. He learned the Demon Kings’ signature abilities and judged that the Eagle King and Mantis God were especially dangerous.
• Concluding he was far too weak to face a Great Yokai, Chen Feng returned to the internet café with his wolf and dog and decided to lie low until he became stronger.
• Meanwhile, the Five Freaks met after the Great Yokai’s Ten Thousand Souls Banner vanished. They concluded that a reborn person had taken it in another timeline and suspected the mysterious killer of Rabbit Face.
• The group considered using the Erasure Plan, which had once defeated the powerful, cautious “Savior” by killing his mother before his birth and erasing him from reality. But the Lord revealed he could no longer travel through time: an unknown outsider had killed his Dog and damaged him in another timeline.
• A gray-white-clad woman appeared behind the Lord: Cai Wenji, carrying a Mythic Three Kingdoms blessing. Her abilities can trigger varied effects when she takes physical damage; if she dies, her killer permanently loses one skill.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng shifts from aggressive progression to caution. He remains resourceful—testing the enhancement system and using Old Wolf’s wind to hide evidence—but recognizes the gap between himself and the Great Yokai.
• The Great Yokai takes the initiative by convening the Five Freaks and reporting the loss of his treasure. The Queen Mother, Bull Face, and the others quickly move from suspicion to support for eliminating the apparent threat.
• The Lord is exposed as vulnerable: the Dog he raised is dead, he bears an unexplained injury, and he has lost his time-travel ability. This undermines the Five Freaks’ most powerful countermeasure.
• Cai Wenji enters as a new, mysterious figure, mourning her homeland and bringing a dangerous blessing that punishes anyone who kills her.

Significant themes

• Survival over bravado: Chen Feng chooses patience because strength alone cannot overcome a vast power gap.
• Consequences across timelines: Actions in one timeline can erase treasures, alter lives, or weaken powerful beings in another.
• Threats that grow in secrecy: The Five Freaks fear a reborn outsider because a hidden enemy may develop beyond their ability to control.
• The cost of power: The Erasure Plan can rewrite existence, but the Lord’s loss of that ability shows that even formidable powers can be disrupted.

• Plot: The Lord and the Great Yokai realize Chen Feng is a reborn man who can reload his past. They devise a plan to lure him with a treasure, but when he fails to appear, they suspect he has changed his save point or seen through their scheme. The Lord agrees to remain with the Great Yokai for the next year. Meanwhile, Chen Feng tries and fails to cultivate, blaming a supposed barrier around Cihang City that blocks Spirit Energy. He gives the Mysterious Tortoise Longevity Art to the internet-café Trio, and all three immediately begin cultivating. A street sweeper does the same—and even rejuvenates—confirming that ordinary people can cultivate. Chen Feng then discovers Old Wolf’s skills and experience are advancing rapidly as well. The chapter ends with Chen Feng’s system preparing a guaranteed Demon-Slaying System, which will grant cultivation through killing monsters rather than training.
• Character developments: The Lord and Great Yokai emerge as cautious strategists, aware that Chen Feng is still growing but difficult to predict. Chen Feng’s confidence collapses as he realizes he is uniquely bad at cultivation, despite initially blaming the world. The Trio show extraordinary talent, while Old Wolf proves similarly gifted. Chen Feng’s system remains his main advantage—and may soon offer a workaround tailored to his weakness.
• Character interactions: The Great Yokai explains his trap to the Lord, Queen Mother, Ghost King, and Bull Face; the Lord alone quickly understands its logic. Chen Feng orders the Trio to stop gaming and study the manual. Li Guolong thanks him and hopes to help free the others from the Internet Addiction Academy, while Yellow Hair enthusiastically casts Chen Feng as his “old master.” Chen Feng tests the manual on a street sweeper and is forced to accept that the problem lies with him, not the people or the cultivation method.
• Themes: The chapter plays with fate and causality, as the villains exploit the certainty of a promised future event; talent versus effort, contrasting Chen Feng’s slow progress with the effortless success of others; and self-deception, as Chen Feng repeatedly blames external causes before confronting his own lack of talent. It also uses comic reversals: the supposedly exceptional cultivation world is ordinary to everyone but Chen Feng.

Plot points and events

• After nearly giving up, Chen Feng decides to preserve his life and use his Save-Load System strategically: record future events, avoid unnecessary trouble, and act only when the risks are clear.
• A year later, Li Guolong returns to the internet-addiction school at late Qi Refining. Chen Feng watches the Trio’s progress and estimates the destructive power of each cultivation stage.
• The Great Benefactor System reports that the Mental Hospital has been destroyed, but because Chen Feng did not destroy it himself—and the Holy Cow Cult and Bull Face remain—he would receive only one point instead of fifteen. He declines the reward and infers that the cult is the real threat.
• P.E.A.C.D’s Captain Wu reaches Rank A. Meanwhile, the Pastor is captured after trying to leave Cihang City, where supernatural forces control the population and even arrange for people’s souls to be collected.
• Medium Meng Chengcheng vanishes after a Deity-Invoking Ritual, while India goes mad during a mission. Chen Feng suspects the city’s dangers claimed both.
• Newcomer Jiang Die finds a Ghost Cultivator’s treasure—the Soul-Summoning Bell—and rapidly rises to Rank A with it, but then disappears. Chen Feng concludes the bell was not responsible; powerful newcomers are being eliminated by demons. He plans to take the bell himself on a future Save-Load.
• Ten years pass without Chen Feng reaching Qi Refining. An old street sweeper attempts Foundation Establishment and is instantly killed by Heavenly Thunder, revealing that Cihang City’s tribulations are extraordinarily dangerous.
• Li Guolong nevertheless attempts the breakthrough on a barren mountain. He survives by sacrificing six hundred years of lifespan through the Mysterious Tortoise Longevity Art and reaches Foundation Establishment.
• The Great Yokai arrives and reveals that he tampered with the city’s tribulations: they strike as early as Qi Refining and carry the force of a Nascent Soul tribulation. Chen Feng realizes this explains why Cihang City produces potential cultivators but has no successful ones.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Feng shifts from despair to cautious, strategic survival. He studies others’ progress, records useful opportunities, and remains wary of acting directly.
• Li Guolong shows exceptional resolve by attempting a breakthrough despite the old man’s death; his technique lets him endure a seemingly impossible tribulation.
• The Great Yokai reveals himself as the architect of Cihang City’s lethal cultivation barrier, confirming that the city’s apparent cultivation promise is a trap.
• Captain Wu continues growing stronger, while Jiang Die’s sudden rise and disappearance reinforce Chen Feng’s belief that promising people are targeted.
• Chen Feng’s observations of the Trio, P.E.A.C.D, and the city’s supernatural authorities shape his plans, but he avoids openly intervening.

Significant themes

• Survival through knowledge: Chen Feng treats future information as his greatest advantage, preferring preparation over reckless action.
• Cultivation as a trap: The city appears full of potential, but the Great Yokai’s manipulated tribulations prevent cultivators from advancing.
• The cost of power: Li Guolong survives only by giving up centuries of lifespan.
• Concealed control and predation: The capture of travelers and collection of souls suggest that Cihang City’s inhabitants are resources to its supernatural rulers.